Three Miles Out: Book One

by Jacqueline Druga

  <><><><>

  Even though Jason knew the authorities had come for his wife and daughter, a part of him held on to the hope that they had returned. Especially when he saw his wife’s mini van parked right out front. The house was completely empty, they weren’t there. Baby bottles were missing, as well as that large pack of diapers Jason had just purchased.

  The question remained, were they still in custody or had they left, evacuated like Bert suggested? He needed to find out where they were. The internet was down so there was no way to check social media. He looked everywhere in the house for some sort of clue, or note. He didn’t have his phone so he didn’t know if she had tried to call him.

  When he thought of that, he realized he didn’t need his phone to see if she left a message.

  It was an oddity but they had a landline, and Jason lifted it. There was a dial tone and he called his cell. Instantly, it went to voicemail and Jason pressed the pound sign to get to voicemail controls.

  Sure enough there was a message.

  “Hey, it’s me,” Corrie whispered. “We’re okay. Some men in suits came and got us. We’re at the Marriot. Gotta go. Love you.”

  That was four days earlier.

  While their little outskirts town was deserted, the Marriot was in Sandusky. That was a bigger place and Jason was not only certain they had to be all right, but also the bigger town of Sandusky was probably the safer place to go.

  He searched out Corrie’s keys. Not that he needed her mini van, but he knew she had plenty of gas. Fuel was part of the deal she had made with Jason. If he wanted to go and hang out with his friend, especially after working all day, he had to go get milk, grab some chicken wings and fill up the tank before he left for Brady’s.

  Jason had done all that.

  She hadn’t taken the van. In it was plenty enough gas to get to Sandusky and even further. He didn’t know if he would get back to the house any time soon, if at all. He debated on taking items, but decided against it. Doing so meant he believed he was never going home.

  He had the keys and he opened the door.

  Brady was parked out front. Just parked there, hands on steering wheel, staring forward. Bert was in the back seat.

  Jason walked up to the car and opened the door. Brady didn’t move.

  “Hey,” Jason called him. “Brady.”

  “My mother is infected,” he said stunned.

  “Aw, man. Dude, I’m sorry. I really am.”

  Slowly Brady looked at him. ‘Corrie? The baby?”

  “Not here. They were moved to the Marriott.”

  “Then I guess that’s where we go. I don’t have any gas.”

  “The van has a full tank.”

  “Then we go.”

  “We go.” Brady opened the back door for Bert. “Brady, will you be okay?”

  “Eventually. It was my mom. My mom.” Brady moaned.

  “I know.” Jason said with sympathy.

  “Hopefully, we’ll have better luck finding Corrie,” Brady said.

  “Let’s hope.”

  Brady lifted his bag and Jason helped Bert from the car with his rollator. A black cloud of sadness hung over them, Jason figured it was one that wouldn’t go away any time soon.

  FIFTEEN – WATCH AND WAIT

  Two outdoor chairs were side by side, just outside The Brewery restaurant facing the bay, a good hundred feet from the docks were half a dozen soldiers perched on the pier in ready position. Another was just off the docks in a military Humvee manning a 50 cal weapon.

  How did they even get it on the island? Vivian wondered.

  She sat in one of the chairs and accepted the drink handed to her by Gil.

  “Thank you.”

  “Anything since I was gone?” he asked.

  “Nothing. No communication at all between them that I could hear.”

  “I see the ferry hasn’t moved.” He pointed out then sat down.

  “Not an inch back, or forward.”

  “How’s the leg?” he asked.

  “Fine. Sore. Just another man made hole in my body,” she said. “Joining the one on my shin and arm. How did platelet donation go?”

  “It went.” He sighed out, sounding tired. “Can’t believe that ferry is just sitting there. It has a lot of people on it. About twenty or thirty that I can see. There may be more inside.”

  At first Vivian thought he had exceptional eyesight until she saw he was looking through a pair of binoculars. “Where did you get those?”

  “I asked.” He handed them to her. “What do you think?”

  She lifted the binoculars to her eye level and adjusted them. They weren’t marauders on that ferry, they weren’t bad people looking to start a fight, they were families, with children, staring at the island as if they were watching their salvation slip away.

  “I don’t understand,” she said, handing them back. “Why can’t they just come ashore?’

  “Because we need a constant,” Aaron’s voice spoke.

  Vivian looked over her shoulder to him confused.

  “You two give new meaning to people watching,” Aaron said. “Those people are exposed. Possibly even infected. Right now, we have control. Control over every person. We know who is infected, who is symptomatic. If they come ashore, that’s less control. Besides more mouths to feed.”

  “How do you know they don’t have food?” Vivian asked. “You have a lake full of fish.”

  Aaron nodded. “Yes, there is a lake full of fish. But a lake full of fish infected with the parasite.”

  “Do you know this for a fact?” she asked.

  He gave her a look that pretty much screamed, ‘Really’?

  Gil handed him the binoculars. “Take a look at who you’re refusing. Kids are there. I say let them on shore. You need people to test your treatment on if they’re exposed.”

  “We do. We have soldiers,” Aaron said. “They get it first anyhow.”

  Vivian glanced outward. “You don’t strike me as someone who would turn people away.”

  “Please stop looking at it like that. I can’t,” Aaron said. “I can’t let them on the island. This, right now, is a government project. I’m doing my job, which is to find a cure. Besides, I am not the one making the final decision. Colonel Sharpe is in charge, right now, she sees this virus as a war, which it is. We all need to look at this island as if it’s Fort McHenry in 1812.” He held his hand outward. “Out there is the enemy and we’re holding down the fort. Now if you’ll excuse me.”

  After he walked away, Gil refreshed his drink. “He forgot one important part of that analogy. What happens when there are no more soldiers left to hold the fort?”

  “True. And the virus, the parasite, it may be the enemy, but those people out there on that ferry, they aren’t.”

  “No,” Gil sipped his drink as he watched the ferry. “No they are not.”

  <><><><>

  Linda felt good about the meeting and the pending outcome. The Department of Defense would activate an extraordinary fifty thousand troops, and deploy them across fifteen states as border patrols and boots on the ground to fight the infected.

  All they needed was the President’s approval and that was pretty much a given.

  It didn’t feel so dismal to her now, the future wasn’t dim. There was a shot at making it work, at saving everyone. While she could have stayed in Washington to watch it play out, she decided to head back to Fort Detrick.

  Traffic was unsettling, tense and heavy for late morning. There was just something about it that worried her. She had barely made it off the beltway in two hours. Her gas gauge began to dip and her head hurt. She chalked it up to the mounting stress she experienced.

  Twenty minutes off the beltway, Linda pulled over to get a cup of tea. She wasn’t feeling well, she needed the beverage as well as some ibuprofen.

  It was a major rest stop, a gas and food hub off the interstate, and it was especially busy when she pulled in. Maybe it was just her imagination, but peopl
e moved about rushed and anxious, not leisurely, and the vehicles seemed a bit more packed with supplies than usual.

  She didn’t need fuel so she parked in the lot on the food service side. The moment she stepped from the car an aching pain shot up her right leg. Almost like a cramp that made it hard for her to stand and move. When she did manage to stand erect she felt light headed, and her body swayed.

  Holding on to the car she regained her balance and slowly made her way to the entrance.

  Something was different, but Linda couldn’t put her finger on it. Typically when she wore her uniform, people nodded and held doors for her, now no one even remotely made eye contact.

  Things were strange.

  There was a long line of people at the fast food roast beef place so Linda opted to go to the small gift shop counter. There was only two people waiting there and she saw the sign on the deli case that read ‘tomato soup’.

  Perfect.

  A hot beverage and soup would hit the spot.

  She grabbed a bottle of ibuprofen and water, then walked to the counter to get her coffee,

  The moment she got in line the tickle in her throat began. She coughed once, a small one, then another.

  The woman in front of her turned around and looked horribly offended. So much so she moved up, crowding the person in front of her.

  Linda got it, there was a virus going around. She understood.

  Not wanting people to think she was a walking, talking germ bank, she tried to stifle her cough, but it only made it worse and she was finally unable to hold it. The cough was hacking.

  The woman in front covered her mouth and left the line walking outward from Linda.

  Linda moved up.

  The café worker who was adjusting the coffee maker turned around. “Can I …” She paused. “Help you.”

  Her eyes widened and she moved back from the counter.

  “I’ll have a small …” Linda paused to cough. “Coffee and cup of that soup.” She coughed again.

  The young female worker hurriedly grabbed a coffee, placed a lid on and set it on the counter, then retrieved the soup.

  “Spoons are over there.” She pointed.

  “How much?” Linda asked.

  “Go. It’s free.”

  “Thank you.” Linda lifted the items, when she did, she looked at the worker again. The young girl actually looked fearful.

  When she turned around, she saw the man in line behind her, he stood several feet back and waited until Linda cleared the counter then, hand covering his mouth, stepped forward.

  Linda stood dumbfounded by his behavior. Shaking her head she turned and nearly stumbled over a child who came to her hips. She grazed into him, lifting her hot items to prevent spilling them. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see …”

  “Don’t touch him!” screamed a frantic woman. “Get away from him!”

  Before Linda could comprehend what was happening, the child was pulled back and into the arms of a woman. She shielded the boy and dragged him away, covering his mouth.

  That’s when it hit Linda.

  Everyone was looking, covering their faces, running. Some even shouted, ‘someone call the police’.

  She felt like the elephant man, a spectacle, a monster in their eyes, but why?

  The ladies room wasn’t far and she made her way there, pushing the door open with her backside.

  The second she emerged in there, a female occupant making her way out screamed.

  Hurriedly, she raced to the mirror, setting her soup and coffee on the purse ledge.

  Her heart sunk to her stomach when she saw her reflection.

  What had happened since she last looked in the mirror?

  The skin on her face was ghostly white, under her eyes were dark and purple marks, her neck was swollen, eyes bloodshot, lips cracked and her nostrils were red.

  She gripped the edge of the sink, lowered her head and shouted. “Everyone get out. Get out. I’m infected.”

  She heard the scuffling, the panicked movements and vocalization, but she didn’t look up.

  How could she be so stupid?

  She was on top of the virus, so far on top and in control of the situation that it never dawned on her that she would get infected, somehow subconsciously, she believed herself to be infallible.

  Linda wasn’t.

  She faced that reality in the mirror.

  Once she was encompassed by the silence of the empty rest room, she ran to the door and locked it. There she stayed, head against the firm surface and broke down.

  <><><><>

  Fort Wayne wasn’t just near the border of Ohio and Indiana, it was on the border of what was now being called the, ‘No Zone’. Tasha Elliot paced the living room of her second floor apartment while waiting for her husband to get home. Her attention went between the television and her phone where she read the comments to her post on social media of, ‘OMG, I’m in Fort Wayne. Is this thing for real?’

  Not only did the outbreak news seem to come out of the blue, but to find out they were so close to a complete shut down and war zone area was incomprehensible to her.

  ‘If you read the news days ago, you would have known,’ one commenter said. ‘It’s been real.’

  ‘They never said how bad this was,’ said another. ‘If they had maybe things wouldn’t be out of control.’

  ‘If you’re in the zone, you’re done. Heard they’re bombing it to contain the virus.’

  ‘Get out of the zone!’

  Tasha walked over to the window and looked out. She could see the parking lot, there was no sign of Nelson, her husband.

  She called him. She was working at the grocery store when people jammed in, buying everything on the shelves all at once. The way they all came crashing in at the same time made her believe there was some sort of attack, or a meteor was hurling to earth.

  “Hurry up,” people told her.

  Tasha was pretty quick on the register. She did the best she could.

  Mr. Carson was in her store nearly every day. He usually bought one or two items, but when he came through her check out with a cart overflowing, Tasha had to ask.

  “What’s happening? What’s going on?”

  “Didn’t you hear?” Mr. Carson replied. “Indiana is one of fourteen states that are going to be shut down. Right now only the northern border is under quarantine. A virus or something.”

  “The dead are rising,” the person behind Mr. Carson chimed in.

  “What?” Tasha laughed.

  “Yeah, they are,” he said. “Look.” He handed her his phone. A video played. Tasha didn’t get to see it, because he whipped it away when people verbally protested the hold up.

  “It’s not here,” Mr. Carson said. “But it’s all up by the lake. People are fleeing, but they’re not letting anyone out of that area. It’s contagious. I don’t know about dead rising, but this thing causes insanity. Get out while you can. Head for Kentucky. Go south. East is out. West too. Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York, straight to the coast and I think west to Minnesota, down. Massive military movement is shutting down the borders. No one gets in, or out. Goes into effect at six.”

  Six.

  That was only four hours away and she was on shift until eight.

  She finished Mr. Carson’s order and the man behind him. While she worked, Tasha never stopped thinking about the situation. She knew nothing other than what people said.

  Finally, she couldn’t take it, she sent a text to her husband for him to get home and she took off her smock, set it on the belt and walked out the door.

  Tasha wasn’t one of those people who only had two days’ worth of food. She was addicted to buying groceries and had too much. Working in a store gave her the vantage of seeing all sorts of new items and she constantly was shopping after her shifts.

  When she got home, she packed it. A gym bag and back pack full of food, lighter items that they could carry. In between packing she kept calling Melvin. He didn’t answer so she bombarded hi
m with texts to get home.

  Her head spun. Was she over reacting? Then as if she needed public validation, she posted that statement and question on social media. Asking if it was real.

  The comments confirmed her fear.

  Tasha actually contemplated sealing off her apartment, but she didn’t have the plastic or enough duct tape to do it.

  In the second back pack she shoved a change of clothes for them both. They’d carry their jackets. A rolled up blanket was secured to the back of her bag. Impressively she had it together and now she just waited on her husband. They had three hours until the state was shut down, and just about that length of time to drive to safety.

  But they had to go and without delay.

  Finally, Melvin arrived home.

  He didn’t look like someone who would be named Melvin. He had a full head of dark hair, his face was chiseled and physique toned and strong.

  “Have you heard?” Tasha asked rushed, the second he stepped in.

  “Yeah, yeah, I did. Scary shit.”

  “They’re shutting down the entire state,” she said. “We need to leave before we get stuck here with the infection.”

  “Where do you suppose we go?” he asked.

  “South,” Tasha replied. “That’s the only way to go. I’ve been listening to the news since I found out.”

  “Okay,” Melvin nodded. “We’ll leave. We need to pack ...”

  “Done,” Tasha said and pointed to the bags. “My car has a three quarter tank of gas.”

  “Mine has half. Want me to syphon, put it in cans and take yours?”

  “Do we have time?” Tasha asked.

  “We make time.”

  Tasha nodded, looked at her watch. “You do that, I’ll make one more pass of the apartment.”

  When she received his agreement, she headed to the back bedroom. They were on the same page with minimal talking. They were a team and worked as one. On the dresser was a photograph of his parents, and she grabbed it glancing out the window. The parking lot was suddenly busy. Neighbors were doing the same, tossing things in their cars, preparing to leave. Rushing about. Everyone had the same idea …leave.